FILE - In this June 5, 2011 file photo, Amanda Bynes arrives at the MTV Movie Awards, in Los Angeles.

The driveway of a Thousand Oaks home remained charred Tuesday after actress Amanda Bynes allegedly started a fire there the night before.

Star staff

Actress Amanda Bynes was being held Tuesday for psychiatric evaluation after she apparently set a gas can on fire Monday night in front of a Thousand Oaks home, officials said.

Ventura County firefighters and sheriff's deputies responded about 8:45 p.m. to a disturbance involving a fire in the 200 block of Avenida de los Arboles.

Someone reported that a gas can was on fire in the driveway, said Bill Nash, a spokesman for the Ventura County Fire Department. Responding crews found a melted plastic gas can, but residents had already put out the small blaze, Nash said.

One witness said he saw Bynes lying faceup with her pant legs on fire. But no one was injured, and there was no property damage, authorities said.

Deputies determined that Bynes, 27, met the requirements to be detained for a mental evaluation, said sheriff's Sgt. Eric Buschow.

Section 5150 of the California Welfare and Institutions Code allows a person to be involuntarily held for up to 72 hours if the person is considered a danger to self or others or is greatly disabled. Mental health professionals then evaluate how best to proceed, Buschow said.

There was no connection between Bynes and the home where the fire was reported, but she apparently has family in the area. The former Nickelodeon actress was born in Thousand Oaks and graduated from Thousand Oaks High School's independent study program in 2004.

Bynes is not expected to be charged with a crime.

The driveway to the Thousand Oaks home remained charred Tuesday afternoon as media vans gathered at the scene.

Christie Htway, of Thousand Oaks, said Tuesday that her mother, who lives in the home where the incident occurred, called her Monday night sounding frantic.

She said her mother, Bonnie Braaten, didn't know what was going on until authorities knocked on her door. Htway said her mother was shaken up because she thought the person responsible would return to her house, but officials told her not to worry.

Htway said that when she learned Bynes was responsible, she couldn't believe it. Htway said it was all "bizarre" and "random."

"I was, like, ‘Really?' " she said. "I didn't even know she (Bynes) was in California."

Htway said she was familiar with Bynes' recent legal troubles.

"I feel really sad about the whole thing because I didn't expect something like this to happen," Htway said. "I'm glad the fire didn't get out of hand and no one got hurt."

Bynes appeared in a New York court this month for a May incident in which she was accused of throwing a marijuana bong out of her apartment window. She was charged with reckless endangerment and attempted tampering with physical evidence and is scheduled to reappear in court Sept. 26.

In December, she settled a misdemeanor hit-and-run case in California. She was charged last fall with driving on a suspended license after it was taken away from her following two hit-and-run cases in which she was accused of leaving the scene without providing proper information. She has pleaded not guilty to drunken driving in a separate case and has used social media to criticize celebrities recently.

She appeared in her first commercial at age 7, got her series TV start on Nickelodeon's sketch comedy show "All That" in 1996 and later got her own show on the network.

Beginning in 2000, she won four consecutive Kids Choice Awards for "All That" and "The Amanda Show." She also received Kids Choice Awards in 2003 and 2004 for the films "Big Fat Liar" and "What A Girl Wants" and starred in the 2010 movie "Easy A," which was filmed in Ojai.